Corach Rambler leads Grand National contenders - BBC Sport

Last year's winner Corach Rambler will lead the field for Saturday's Grand National at Aintree, with the final line-up to be named on Thursday.

The maximum number of runners in the Aintree race has been cut to 34 from this year's 40 for safety reasons.

Corach Rambler, trained in Scotland by Lucinda Russell, leads the British hopes in a field dominated by Irish runners.

Irish coaches Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins could each have eight runners.

Elliott's team includes Delta Work and Chemical Energy, although Conflated is due to steer for Friday's Melling Chase, meaning 2022 winner Noble Yeats will carry his top weight.

Owner JP McManus has confirmed his riding plans for his team. Paul Townend on the Mullins-trained I Am Maximus and Mark Walsh chose Limerick Lace over Meetingofthewaters, who will be Danny Mullins' mount.

Keith Donoghue is booked for Capodanno and Jody McGarvey for Janidil.

After Monday's confirmation phase, there are 51 entries left in the competition, and the top 34 horses made it to the finals.

Conflated's defection would mean Kitty's Light, Chambard and Eklat De Rire are all guaranteed places in the race.

Scottish National winner Kitty's Light would provide the first Welsh-trained winner since Kirkland in 1905 for trainer Christian Williams, whose young daughter Betsy is being treated for leukaemia.

Shakem Up'Arry, who beat owner Harry Redknapp at the Cheltenham Festival last month, needs a number of home runs to run.

As the continuous rain increased, the progress of the national course was described on Wednesday as heavy, in some places soft.

Owner Ronnie Bartlett has announced that his pair Galvin and Stattler will not participate if the ground is too soft.

Corach Rambler, who is aiming to become just the second horse after Tiger Roll to win back-to-back Nationals since Red Rum in the 1970s, is about 5-1 with bookies.

Approximate odds: 5-1 Corach Rambler, 7-1 I am Maximus, 8-1 The scene of the waters, 9-1 Vanilla, 12-1 Mr. Incredible, Panda Boy, 14-1 kitty light, 16-1 Mahler's task 20-1 Bar

Irish trainers have established a stranglehold on the big jumps, winning 18 of the 27 races at the Cheltenham Festival.

After Cheltenham, British Horseracing Authority chief executive Julie Harrington said the dominance was "damaging" to the sport and said more needed to be done to ensure top horses were bred, owned, trained and raced in Britain.

Activist group Animal Rising says it will not disrupt the Grand National this year after protesters took to the track and delayed the race by 14 minutes in 2023.

Police arrested 118 people on the day of the race in which the gelding Hill Sixteen was fatally injured.

Organizers have shortened the line-up, bringing the race forward by an hour and 15 minutes to 16:00 BST to give the runners safer ground, with a shorter run to the first fence to slow the horses down early.

The reintroduction of the permanent exit and additional vet checks are among other changes.